Would having armed Police on the streets of The United Kingdom stop the terrorists?

[Weststander]

Yes, yes it does.

A changing world for us, unfortunately. More of a necessity now.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

There are armed police on the streets in certain cities now. I saw two policemen armed with rifles in Meadowhall, Sheffield, 18 months ago.

 

[RexCathedra]

We had a raging anti-gay nutter kill 49 people in an Orlando nightclub, and our police are pretty heavily armed.

So, no.

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

Terrorists that don't care about death will always find a way.

If they're after martyrdom, it would actually make it easier and maybe more attractive.

 

[studio150]

Transfer the London Bridge attack from Saturday night to a working day at 8.30am with hundreds of city workers walking across the bridge. The van being driven at speed mounts the pavements and knocks down and kills far more people, the terrorists jump out on the bridge and start their knife attack.

Yes an armed police officer arrives quicker than the 8 minutes, but it hasn't stopped the attack and the terrorists still achieve their ultimate aim of martyrdom.

There is also the view that more armed police means more armed criminals thereby making the streets less safe.

Its a no from me.

 

[Brovion]

We had a raging anti-gay nutter kill 49 people in an Orlando nightclub, and our police are pretty heavily armed.

So, no.

Precisely. In America the police are armed and citizens can carry guns. That hasn't stopped terrorist attacks in the USA; indeed it could be argued that the prevalence of guns means that they always feature in any US atrocity with the result that the death toll is much higher than it would be if the attackers were only armed with knives and speeding vehicles.

Also it wouldn't take much for terrorists to exploit it. Take last night. Say that (unbelievably brave) policeman who had tackled the terrorists with his baton had been armed. He'd have wasted valuable seconds trying to identify targets and could well have been stabbed and/or overpowered before he could get off a shot. Now our knife-wielding terrorists also have a gun.

 

[Half Time Pies]

I saw an ex police chief being interviewed on the TV about this earlier today. He said that there are a decent number of armed police in London but outside of London the response to a terrorist attack would be much slower due to the cuts.

He also made the point that its the cuts in normal police on the streets which also needs to be addressed urgently, in the past there were far more police on the streets within communities gathering low level intelligence such as about people acting suspiciously or monitoring individuals in a community that have been identified by the security services. Its very rare to see even a PCSO walking around the streets of Brighton these days.

 

[Shropshire Seagull]

IMHO it would be folly to arm ALL UK police officers.

As pointed out near the top of the thread, it didn't put off American acts of terror.

French Gendarmes are all armed and that didn't stop Charlie Hebdo and their more recent terror attacks in Paris.

It's a no from me ....

I was quite impressed with the 8 minutes from call to kill by the armed response unit - whilst we would all want it to be quicker, I think 8 minutes is a pretty good effort for a result.

 

[Shropshire Seagull]

What about a total news black-out - would that take the kudos away from the perpetrators - even if they were dead? (their mates / backers would be none the wiser of their success)

 

[Berty23]

Sadly that is exactly what they will bother with.

Yesterday's attackers were tin pot. They had no guns and no explosives. 'Inspired by' ISIS rather than sent by them. No if I were into spreading total terror I would make the enemy think 'we' could strike anywhere. That means a campsite in sodding chipbury. A Sunday School meeting in Portslade. The more mundane the more shocking.

I don't think arming all police would help. It is a fact however that if the public were armed these nutters would have been shot long before they had killed and injured so many.

But I am definitely not in favour of arming the public. That sort of 'reasoning' is for Loonies. As is quoting people out of context in order to reinforce a racist stereotypy and support an anti 'left' agenda. The scumbag on the other thread who did all that needs to take a good look at himself.

How on earth is it a FACT that if the public were armed that they would have died quicker and fewer people injured or dead? This is not a computer game where baddies light up or have an arrow. If someone heard a gun shot and starred shooting a terrorists then how would people know who were the actual terrorists? It could just turn into a massive gun fight and no one sure who started it. Or if the public were all armed then would the terrorists still use a knife or would they maybe have a gun of their own?

 

[perseus]

A national survey of police officers across England and Wales last year showed that 20% wanted to be routinely issued with a firearm and six out of 10 wanted a Taser.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...tan-police-federation-officers-carry-firearms

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

Armed Police officers are great, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

What about a total news black-out - would that take the kudos away from the perpetrators - even if they were dead? (their mates / backers would be none the wiser of their success)

The government would be accused of all sorts of conspiracies and cover ups.

 

[Half Time Pies]

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

Not always sacrifice. Some aren't suicide attackers.

If major cities get massive protection, ISIS also target smaller things.

In France they killed a priest in Rouen and a rural policeman at home elsewhere.

ISIS sympathisers whom ISIS then claim as their own whether or not they have had anything to do with them...

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

Armed police would not have prevented the Manchester bombing and will not prevent any suiicide bombing.

 

[nicko31]

Armed police would not have prevented the Manchester bombing and will not prevent any suiicide bombing.

Indeed the police can't everywhere armed or not armed. We have the best police on the planet, they do not need to be armed as routine. They need sensible levels of funding

 

[looney]

We had a raging anti-gay nutter kill 49 people in an Orlando nightclub, and our police are pretty heavily armed.

So, no.

It was an islamic attack.

 

[Diablo]

Would having armed Police on the streets of The United Kingdom stop the terrorists?

NO

 

[Is it PotG?]

Not really. The next time, with all of these JC increased bobbies on the beat, that anything kicks off, then the aforementioned officer can proudly wave his truncheon in the face of any knife wielding, explosive clad antagonist and exclaim "Stop, I order you to stop Sir (or Madam)".